Rest foe books



(N5 Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. G. H. MANN. BEST FOR BOOKS.

F Patented Nov. 26, 1895..

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W/ TNE SSE S ANDREW BXERANAM. PHMOUYHQWASHINGTONJ C.-

(No Model.) a Sheets-811951; 3. T. G. H. MANN.

BEST FOR BOOKS.

No. 550,455. Patented Nov. 26, 1895.

FIG 6 FIG 6a,

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' rests.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS H. MANN, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

REST FOR BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,453, dated November 26, 1895.

Application filed February 18, 1895. Serial No. 538,167. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS GEORGE HENRY MANN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of Balham Hill, London, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rests or Holders for Books or the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rests or holders for books and other similar objects-such, for example, as samples of bodies or materials arranged in sheets and fastened together in forms more or less resembling books.

The object of my invention is to obtain a rest or holder which will permit of the book which it sustains being moved in such manner that at whatever place it may be open the two exposed pages will always be in the sam plane or approximately so.

Another object of my invention is to sustain the book by the book itself and not merely by the binding, as in ordinary book- By this means the binding is less liable to deterioration.

In carrying my invention into efiect I employ two planes or plates capable of reciproeating parallel motion, or approximately parallel motion, and capable of lying in the same planeas, for example, when in the middle of their reciprocating paths. These plates, hereinafter called the rest-plates, are attached by any suitable means to the end of a rocking lever, so that when one rest-plate moves in one direction the other rest-plate will be moved in the opposite direction. The said rocking lever is attached by a pin or otherwise to and rocks upon the main support or body of my invention. The said rest-plates are generally placed by means of any convenient adjustable device in an inclined position, and the boards or sides of the book lie flat upon them. At the lower or front edge of each plate Iinay attach a block or strip (hereinafter termed the resting-blocks,) and to each of the said blocks or stripsI may attach one end of a link, which I shall hereinafter refer to as the link-support. The said link-support is designed to take up the whole of the weight of that part of the book which is applied to its rest-plate when the said restplate is vertical, or a share of the weight when its rest-plate is in an inclined position. When the link supports are not employed, the weight which they would take up if present isthen taken up directly by the resting-blocks before mentioned. From the other ends of the link-supports extend other links, which I shall hereinafter for purposes of distinction refer to as the front links, and which connect the support-links with the retaining device hereinafter described. The said retaining device may resemble any of the vsual devices employed in book or music rests for maintaining the books or pages in an open position.

A convenient form of retaining device consists of two parts, one of which I shall hereinafter refer to as the platform and the other as the flap, the said flap being attached by a horizontal hinge to the said platform, so that it can move in a vertical angular direction. By means of suitably-attached springs the said flap may press upon the leaves of the book to retain the same in an open position.

The retaining device may be adj ustably attached to the main support or body of my invention-as, for example, by means of a slot and threaded stud arrangement, or the like so that it may be moved forward or backward and then fixed in any desired position by means of, for example, a winged nut on the said threaded stud. For the sake of obtaining a motion more nearly approximating parallel motion I may use two or more parallel rocking levers instead of a single rocking lever, as will be readily understood.

Having now described the nature of my invention in general terms and so as to define its scope, I shall proceed to describe one form thereof, the said form giving good results in practice. For the purpose of making the description of the said form more readily intelligible I have appended hereto two sheets of drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts.

In the said drawings, Figurel is a front elevation of a book rest or holder constructed under my invention, the same being adjusted so that the rest-plates are vertical. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, the rest-plates in this case also being vertical. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, the rest-plates being shown in the same plane. Fig. 4 is an end elevation, the two rest-plates being shown in different planes and the parts occupying the same relative positions as they do in Figs. 1 and 2. Figs. 5, 5, and 5" are enlarged details of the rctainin g-fiap for holding the pages open and of its mounting on its platform or foot-rest. Figs. 6 and 6 are detail views of the adjustable resting-blocks.

Throughout the figures like letters of reference indicate like parts.

In the figures, A A are the two rest-plates. In the case illustrated I show the rocking lever as consisting of two parallel levers B B, this being the construction which I prefer for the purpose of obtaining approximately parallel motion. The rest-plates are attached to the rocking levers by the attaching-blocks C O in such manner-as, for example, by means of pins projecting from the rocking levers into sockets in the attaching-blocks as to allow of free turning when the restplates are moved backward or forward.

Z) bare pins upon which the rocking levers B B turn and by means of which the latter are attached to the upper part D of the main support.

E is a pin with a milled nut 19 working stifiiy through the pillar F and the part D, and bymeans of which the book-rest may be inclined at any desired angle. The said pillar may be of any convenient form attached to a broad base; but any other desired form of stand or support may be employed in accordance with my invention. In practice I find that a pillar projecting upright from an ordinary base (a device resembling a microscope-stand, for example) gives good results.

G G are the resting-blocks, and II II are the link'supports.

J J are the front links which connect the link-supports with the retaining device. The said retaining device consists in this case of two parts, K being the platform and L the flap, the two said parts being connected together, as hereinbefore described, and so that l L maymove angularlytoward and away from the rest-plates, and so that said flap may, when bent toward the rest-plates, press upon the leaves of the book by means of the wellknown form of spring M. Figs. 5, 5, and 5 show one form of this spring-mounting. The flap L is pivotally supported between two brackets M, which being slightly springy allow the conical projection or stud m to spring in and out of the recesses 72, holding the flap L either firmly against the pages of the book or in its turned-down position at will. It will of course be understood that in Fig. 5 the flap L is drawn to the right of its normal position, so as to show details.

Nis the lower part of the main support and is slotted at n, so that the platform K may be moved forward or backward and attached in any suitable position to N by means of the threaded stud P and binding-nut p.

The action of my invention is as follows: Let us assume that the main support is tilted to the position shown in Fig. 3 and that a book is now placed upon the rest-plates and opened at the first page. It will be seen that the chief part of the weight of the book is now sustained by the rest-plate A, which will accordingly be depressed while the restplate A is raised in position; but the exposed pages of the book will be flat and equally distant from the eye of the reader, who is assumed to be squarely opposite the book-rest. As now the reader progresses and turns over page after page,'rest-plateAis depressed and rest-plate A raised (by means of transfer of weight from A to A) untilwhen the last page is reached the parts will be in the relative positions shown in Fig. 4. hen the book is open at the middle the two rest-plates will be in the same plane and the parts will be in the relative positions shown in Fig. 3.

The link-supports should preferably be of a thickness corresponding with or slightly exceeding the amount by which the boards of an ordinary book project beyond the edges of the page. I find that this projection is practically constant for books of most sizes and maybe taken at three-sixteenths of an inch. It is usually advantageous to support the books by the leaves themselves and not by the boards; but when desired the books may be supported by the boards and the link-supports as well as the front supports may be omitted.

In some cases I may attach the resting blocks to the rest plates in an adjustable manneras, for example, by a slot-and-pin (with binding nut) contrivance-so as to adapt my invention for books having covers or boards of varying thickness. This pinand-slot adjustment is shown in Figs. 6 and 6, 9 illustrating the pin and slot.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses having rest plates with approximately parallel motion, blocks G G or rests, for receiving the edge of the cover of the book, and links H II or supports, raised above the surface of the said rests for supporting the leaves of the book, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having rest plates with approximately parallel motion, blocks G G or rests, for receiving the edge of the cover of the book, links II II or supports, raised above the surface of the said rests for supporting the leaves of the book, and means, as the links J J, for automatically adjusting the said links or supports to the number of pages to be sup ported thereby, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination in a holder forbooks, and like uses, having rest plates A A with approximately parallel motion, blocks G G or rests, for receiving the edge of the cover of the book, links II II or supports, raised above the surface of the said rests for supporting the leaves of the book, the adjustable plat form K, and a link or flexible connection between the said links or supports, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having restplates, the automatically adjustable links or rests supporting the leaves of the book, the said links or rests being placed at each side beneath or at the foot of said rest plates and being adjusted by the motion of said rest plates, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having rest plates A A, the adjustable platform K, and the adjustable links or supports for supporting the leaves of the book, whereby various thicknesses of books may be used, and the holder and its links or supports be adapted thereto, substantially as set forth.

6. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having relatively adjustable rest plates A A, a supporting platform for the center of the-book, rests for the boards or covers of the book and supports for the open leaves on each side, substantially as set forth.

7. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having relatively adjustable rest plates A A, a supporting platform for the center of the book, rests for the boards or covers of the book, and automatically adjustable supports for the open leaves on each side, substantially as set forth.

8. In combination in a holder for books, and like uses, having relatively adjustable rest plates A A, an adjustable supporting platform K and flap L for the center of the book, rests for the boards or covers of the book, and the automatically adjustable supports for the open leaves on each side, substantially as set forth.

9. In combination in a support for books, and like uses, having relatively adjustable rest plates A A, the spring flap L mounted and adjustable for books of different thicknesses, whereby the book may be retained firmly in an open position against the said rest plates and the leaves readily turned over, substantially as set forth.

10. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates, a rocking lever 0r levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates, resting blocks, a retaining device or devices and link supports, substantially as set forth.

11. In a rest or holder for books or the like, the combination of two rest plates, a rocking lever or levers, means for attaching the same to the rest plates, resting blocks, link supports, front links and a retaining device or devices, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 30th day of January, 1895, in

the presence of the two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS G. H. MANN.

Witnesses: 1 KENNETH L. SKINNER,

ATHOL G. EVANS. 

